Originally posted by CRZ"Here's a special sneak peek at BLACKLIST, premiering next Monday on NBC!" - first ad on USA right after RAW ended

There was an ad for Sleepy Hollow at about 8:30 Eastern that said get your remote ready.

Originally posted by CRZIs someone trying to tell us something?

I don't care what anybody is trying to tell me, this was front-to-back one of the best RAWs of the year. There was so much to love about this:

-Hot crowd throughout-The video analysis of Armstrong's differing cadences-Ziggler vs Ambrose-R-Truth's offense-Summer Rae-AJ stealing the show on commentary again-The Tag Title #1 Contenders match, after ToF got eliminated, especially after the hot tag to Jimmy Uso (that finish was awesome)-Seth Rollins taking a man-sized beating. That kick through the ropes by Bryan...wow-Abeyance-JBL's constant heeling on Bryan on commentary-Orton's beatdown on Miz, accompanied by JBL blaming it on Daniel Bryan-Ryback and Heyman's perfect pairing

And taking the cake, two true-blue markouts for me:-The locker room beatdown on The Shield, causing slight tremors in the arena-Big Show's heartbreaking knockout of Dusty

I felt that giving Bryan a real win last night was the right thing to do, pending the follow-up on RAW. They took it in an unexpected direction with the abeyance angle. Not sure where this goes from here, but the Orton twist freshens it up a bit, and the almost overdue locker room uprising showed support for Bryan is stronger than ever.

Re: the mental torture of The Big Show...I'm getting suckered into this more and more every time they do something. It's silly and hammy as all hell, but I love it. Steph is such a smarmy bitch. I think now that the rest of the locker room grew balls, they should start a Powerball pool and donate the jackpot to Big Show.

Was there live with the kiddos and the lovely Mrs. whatever. We had a blast! The kids loved seeing the entrances, and did a great job cheering for their favorites. My 8-year old and I had a fantastic time playing 'Guess what Dusty's saying'. It was getting pretty rough at the end there after having heel after heel just trounce their way through the show, but boy did that pay off at the end. Especially since my 9-year old loves Zack Ryder (now *there's* a fan with a tough go of it).

Wish the Wyatt's could have been in person tonight, also disappointed there was no CM Punk. Ahh well.

Highlights:Fandango, they both love him. Glad he got the full entrance treatment tonight. Paul Heyman was fantastically excellent, as usualCesaro's Giant Swing - "That Was Awesome!"Cesaro's leapfrog stomp. OW.The 'Yes Yes Yes' plates on that belt. That belt that belongs on that man. Sigh.RVD vs Sandow. Talk about conflicted, we love both of them. LOVED the music cue whoopsie at the end.

"As you may have read in Robert Parker's Wine Newsletter, 'Donaghy Estates tastes like the urine of Satan, after a hefty portion of asparagus.'" Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock

I've only watched the first segment, but here's how the last 15 or so hours in the life of IJ the budding wrestling fangirl have gone.

7:00 amTime to wake IJ, who is sleeping flat on her back.*lightbulb*JJD: "Iz...it's time to get up."IJ: "mmfgrrrmmmgrumbleno"JJD: "Wait I have an idea...let's do an impression from Night of Champions. You be Randy Orton. Pinky Bear will be Daniel Bryan. I'll be the referee."(JJD places Pinky Bear on top of IJ in a pinning predicament.)JJD (hitting bed): "1...2...3..."IJ: "Daniel Bryan....WON?!"IJ: "Yes!"IJ: "Did Alberto Del Rio lose?"

7:40 amIJ (eating breakfast): "I can't believe Daniel Bryan WON."

9:00 pmJJD: "OK...we can watch the first part of Raw on the DVR then it's bedtime."

9:05 pm (Daniel Bryan comes to the ring. Crowd goes batshit crazy.)IJ: "This is SO cool..."IJ: "Also, TECHNICALLY Daniel is a TWO-TIME WWE Champion, if you think about it."IJ: "And look there's a big Fandango over the ring."

9:18 pm (Post-RKO, as HHH leaves with the title.)IJ: "Well, at LEAST he's not giving it BACK to Randy Orton."

--

So...we'll see what happens in the morning. For me, I only didn't really like HHH threatening to "take the title from" Daniel Bryan. I mean...COO HHH doesn't need to be beating up Daniel Bryan, notsomuch because it's HHH but because the COO shouldn't be beating up the would-be WWE Champ under any circumstances. He *could've* said "I'll have it taken from you." But whatever...at least Randy came out and it wasn't HHH pummeling Daniel Bryan in his suit.

Holy fuck shit motherfucker shit. Read comics. Fuck shit shit fuck shit I sold out when I did my job. Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck. Sorry had to do it....

*snip*

Revenge of the Sith = one thumb up from me. Fuck shit. I want to tittie fuck your ass. -- The Guinness. to Cerebus

Man Kofi got MESSED UP by that Dothraki Spear at the end by Reigns. This was a great RAW simply for that beautiful main event and show closer and for the return of ruthless Randy Orton destroying The Miz.......who is still the worst!

I caught this one very late, on account of the MNF game...which I suppose is better than not catching last week's show at all.

Abeyance? Really? Does somebody on The E's writing staff use a word-a-day calendar or something?

Hunter souring on Orton this early in the game is a bit surprising, but how else can you explain Hunter holding up the title and not simply giving the title back to Orton on a technicality? This main event angle is starting to get more interesting and I'm curious to see if Bryan winds up vanquishing Orton, once and for all, in October...only for Triple H to regroup with a greater corporate champion later?

I still don't care much for The McMahon-Helmsley Era Redux. Stephanie McMahon is approaching cartoon villainy at this point and all she does is make me want to FFWD. This angle is just DEATH for Big Show. I don't speak for the fandom at large, but I won't be able to take him seriously at all after this whole thing's over. He's the World's Largest Crybaby.

Miz getting written out is one thing, but having him get written out in such brutal fashion in front of his parents and his hometown felt like a little much.

The locker room finally standing up for Bryan was some nice movement on the main event angle. I desperately want Justin Gabriel and Zack Ryder being a part of the babyface brigade to mean something. I really do. But sadly, I can only think that it'll lead to them getting squashed like bugs by The Shield. (Or worse, 2-on-1 against Big Show.)

Is it me, or did I miss why Sandow didn't cash in last night? I know Cole brought it up, but I don't think he ever followed up on why.

Dolph beating Ambrose may have been the first time he's had any sort of advantage since The McMahon-Helmsley Era Revisited angle began.

After hearing him drone on and on about AJ in such ridiculous fashion, I want Michael Cole to be Orton's next victim of the Neck Pillmanizer.

Not nearly enough love is being given to Ryback the Not-So-Self-Aware Bully. This angle's going to be gold...even if that vest had the crowd breaking out in "Bully" chants. And I don't think they were referring to the common noun, either.

This was the absolute best possible follow-up to NoC. Actual subtle storytelling with Armstrong not being able to get a word in edgeways as HHH fired him. Orton looking sick and sadistic, AND putting Miz over more as a babyface than at any time in his entire year-long face run. The Dusty stuff, which was amazing and gets Cody and Dustin even more over without them being there. The great tag match and Ambrose/Ziggler match. Reigns looking like an absolute beast. Bryan being packaged as a glorious amalgamation of Mick Foley, Dusty Rhodes and Bret Hart.

My only concern? That they may be positioning Brie to turn heel on Bryan and cost him a big match in the near future.

I'm not liking anything they're doing right now and seeing that a lot of you did makes me think I am probably guy who needs a break from the product. The strange thing is it is the most I have liked the roster in forever.

This is probably the only time I'd ever want this, but they've actually created a scenario where HHH wrestling Bryan is not only something that makes sense, but something I'd actually want to see. In fact, what I'd really love is for HHH to name himself interim World Champion, you know, just while he "gets to the bottom of things." I want him to award himself a belt he in no way deserves and has no claim to, legitimate or otherwise. I want him to wear the belt with his suit everywhere, and I don't want him to defend it at all ("still getting to the bottom of things!") until Bryan manages to get the shot and take it off him. In the meantime, Bryan can finish off his issues with the Shield, Big Show (by the way, Big Show, stop crying and DO SOMETHING), and Orton, building to the big finish with HHH.

Originally posted by BigDaddyLocoI'm not liking anything they're doing right now and seeing that a lot of you did makes me think I am probably guy who needs a break from the product. The strange thing is it is the most I have liked the roster in forever.

Originally posted by dwatersMy son pointed out that the code words in the Shield spell out Shield if you take the first letters from each.

Sierra Hotel India Echo Lima Delta

I always thought they were just random words-- or did everyone else already know this? He said he picked up the word from Call of Duty, so at least he's learning something.

(edited by dwaters on 17.9.13 0352)

It's military code. Letters are easily misheard over a radio broadcast, so the code words are used instead to prevent a miscommunication. I used to have to use that code when I worked at a help desk so that I was making sure all of the information was accurately recorded, but I hardly remember any of it these days.

I am not sure what to think about any of this. One one hand, more HHH promos means less ring time for anyone else and usually absolute boredom. The total disregard of ADR as champ sorta pisses me off. The idea Vince is going to save us all when in fact, he didn't want Bryan to be champ to begin with is going to make no sense when it happens. There is a lot of logic holes to not giving Orton the belt back as well as saying they need a new face of the company when in fact, they are depleted of any main event wrestlers. The reversal win is as bush league as you can get too.

On the other hand, Bryan is getting pushed to the moon. They are building a very strong mid-card. They could actually take this opportunity to reboot guys like Kofi and Ryder to make them threats or at the very least respectable. The Rhodes family saga is pretty awesome. Big Show is being used well for now.

AJ being awesome almost outweighs the zero interest I have in Punk/Ryback. So, its basically a wash right now. A long time ago, they could have put Foley or Flair or hell even Austin into a position in the company for storyline purposes to be a savior. Instead they opted for HHH in that role which he sucks at. I have no desire to see Cyborg Linda in between a failed campaign runs save the day and get out the vote at the same time in 2014. If anything Taker coming back and using the Streak against them may make more sense.

(edited by lotjx on 17.9.13 0725)The Wee Baby Sheamus.Twitter: @realjoecarfley its a bit more toned down there. A bit.